Mental Sampler 24

We get a lot of SPAM calls every day. Weeks ago, I let the answering machine fill up, and I haven’t erased the messages. This means that when phone solicitors call, they get a full mailbox. Yes, we have to listen to the phone ring, but we don’t have to listen to a recorded message left on our answering machine about an! exciting! offer!

I still feel partially enraged by the intrusion, but the rage level is simmering at a 3 rather than frothing at an 8. I don’t think I’ll clear the answering machine. Ever.

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I’ve told you about Beorn’s bedtime routine. The ChickieNob nicknamed the time period “the blender” because he would run frantically in a circle, and in doing so, would kick up his bedding. Kicking up his bedding would reveal the newspaper lining the bottom of his cage. And revealing the newspaper would mean that within minutes of cleaning the cage, it looked like the space had been through the blender. The newspaper would be messed up and bedding would be everywhere and I would be begging him to stop running.

But he couldn’t stop running because bedtime is too exciting.

The last time I cleaned the cage, I taped all the newspaper sheets together before I poured the bedding on top. It was the perfect solution. The newspaper no longer moves when he’s kicking up the bedding, and because it’s not crumpling, even the bedding mostly remains in place. He has been running every day, and everything still looks great.

Masking tape: It saved my sanity.

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Something making me happy right now: The latest season of The Crown. We’re finally in a time period that I lived through and remember.